The first race - the 13th round of the Pirelli World Challenge saw the green flags on Friday, August 21 in the afternoon. With plenty of practice from the day prior Racing.ca team drivers qualified as follows: Glenn Nixon’s #58 Honda Fit 1st ahead of the TCB pack, followed closely by Andrei Kisel’s #57 Mini Cooper in 2nd and Wei Lu’s #59 Mini Cooper not far behind in 4th. Traditional for the first race of the weekend - rolling start - allowed everyone on the team to keep their positions unchanged as the race began and everyone focused on keeping a smooth line on this fast track. #58 Glenn Nixon led most of the race ahead of #25 Johan Schwartz in a tight battle for the championship points, switching positions back and forth, but by the second half of the race the #25 Chevy Sonic broke a gear-shift cable and had to pull out. The #2 Chevy Sonic driven by Van Svenson quickly jumped in on the opportunity and kept Glenn Nixon in suspense. Glenn finished first, with #2 Van Svenson hot on his bumper; #59 Wei Lu took 3rd and Andrei Kisel came in 4th right behind Wei.
The second race of the triple race weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Toele, Utah was scheduled right after the breakfast on Saturday August 22. Despite it being the early morning, the air was already hot and the track was extra dusty from the preceding GT3 cup warm-up session. The Racing.ca team drivers qualified well through the previous race, with Andrei Kisel in his #57 Mini Cooper in 1st starting head-to-head against Glenn Nixon #58 Honda Fit in 2nd and Wei Lu was starting in 3rd, with his #59 Mini Cooper right behind Glenn. The standing start saw #57 Mini driven by Andrei lead the first lap with Glen Nixon #58 Honda Fit and Johan Schwartz #25 Chevy Sonic hot on his tracks. As Glenn and Johan were tooth and nail for the championship points, their intense duel continued through the entire race, and Andrei was set to finish in 3rd right behind them, when a wild Joey Jordan appeared in his #47 Mazda 2. Starting from the pit lane at the very back TCB line-up, Joey Jordan, in his debut race, with his lap time lower than any other TCB car by 2 seconds, had gotten through the dense and competitive group of highly matched cars with experienced and weathered championship drivers, and managed to pull into the 3rd position by the final lap, finishing in 3rd, just ahead of Andrei in 4th.
The third and final race of the 2015 Miller Motorsports Park Pirelli World Challenge weekend was the last race of the day on Saturday Aug 22. After an autograph session that was attended by the crowds of race fans young and young at heart, the Racing.ca team driver have had lots of time to prepare for the 3rd race. Andrei Kisel #57 Mini Cooper was starting the race in 2nd position, Glenn Nixon #58 Honda Fit immediately behind in 3rd, and #59 Wei Lu Mini Cooper bringing up the rear in 5th. This most intense battle of the weekend started out fierce, with #59 Wei Lu changing positions multiple times per race in the middle of the pack, and continued on when finally the Racing.ca drivers have settled into a drafting tag-team; the team has finished the race as a convoy with #58 Glenn Nixon heading up the pack 3rd in TCB class, followed by #59 Wei Lu in 4th and #57 Andrei Kisel in 5th. The race leaders #47 Joey Jordan finished first in his Mazda 2, inexplicably faster than any other TCB car that day, more than 18 whole seconds ahead of the 2nd position that was taken by the season-long championship points leader #25 Johan Schwartz.
0 Comments
Leave a comment
Your email address will not be published.